She is also an expert in one of the most fundamental and important topics we’ve covered to date on the podcast.

So I’m delighted to have Katee Pedicini back on Sparta Chicks Radio.

Katee is a triathlon coach based in Melbourne, Australia who runs Holistic Endurance.

She has a degree in Exercise Science who specialises in managing fatigue, stress and hormones in endurance athletes not only for performance but optimal health and happiness.

She was my guest during episode #21 when we discussed stress and its impact on your body.

By itself, I know it doesn’t sound like a particularly sexy topic.

But when you dive into it, you quickly realise the impact that stress has on your hormones and, as a result, in every aspect of your life;

from your risk of injury and illness,

the results you get (or don’t get) from your training,

how quickly you recover from hard training sessions,

how tired you feel, whether you hit the wall in the afternoon and have to reach for chocolate or a coffee,

if you always have a short fuse with the kids,

how you feel exhausted but then struggle to sleep at night or can’t wind down without a glass of wine,

your libido,

your weight,

your overall happiness.

If you haven’t heard that conversation, I’d encourage you to go back and listen to that episode first as we lay the foundation for this massive topic. You can find that conversation here.

In this episode (and in future episodes), we’ll dive deeper into specific aspects of this hormone and health conversation.

This time around, we discuss two important aspects of hormonal health:

(1).how peri-menopause and menopause can impact on your weight, training and racing.

This is one of the most commonly asked questions I am asked; it’s a source of frustration for many women.

And because this is a topic that hasn’t been deeply understood or openly discussed, it’s easy to think “it’s the beginning of the end” when it comes to your athletic performance. But as Katee explains in this episode, it doesn’t have to be that way.

(Also, if you’re in your 20s and 30s and are tempted to tune out, please don’t. Katee will explain why it’s important for you to know this information now — and quite frankly, after this conversation, I can honestly say it’s information I wish I knew in my 20s).

As Katee points out, prior to menopause, the body has a natural cycle which suits certain types of training (or recovery) at certain times of the month and we should take advantage of that in our training.

Interestingly, the more I speak with Katee and learn from her, I realise two things; firstly. how little I actually know about the way my body functions. And secondly, this is information I wish I knew in my 20s — so it’s vitally important irrespective of your age.